How To Become A Twitch Partner – The Smart Way

As a twitch streamer, it can suck when there are no people watching you. It can be hard enough to get your first 15 concurrent viewers, let alone figuring out how to become a twitch partner.

I know that’s how it felt for me. When I first started off, I wanted a huge audience and people to showcase my talent too.

But I quickly found it impossible to grow my community. I spent hours, and hours, setting up my stream to look perfect, yet no matter what game I would play, people wouldn’t come. It was a tough reality to face.

I streamed for 30 days straight and got 0-1 followers a day. What’s the point of streaming these awesome games if no one is even watching you? I became really disheartened and determined to find another way to grow.

After trying a lot of different things I found some of the best ways to grow my twitch channel.

I’m really excited to share with you how to grow your community and figure out how to become a twitch partner.

After my community started gaining traction, my experience on twitch skyrocketed.

And for that reason, we’re going to dive into the nuances on how to become a twitch partner and start building a wicked twitch community.

But first, let’s make sure we’re on the same page.

I’m going to let you in on a fact that not many people seem to realize.

Simply getting partnered on twitch won’t magically make your stream popular or make you that much more money.

I’ve witnessed lots of my professional gamer friends get partnered as part of their sponsorship deal.

They didn’t even know how to become a twitch partner or grow a community, it was just handed to them.

The Twitch God himself blessed their accounts with verified holiness and they spit in his righteous face.

There’s a huge upside to this, and it’s encompassed in one amazing truth.

You can have bigger communities than hundreds of twitch partners, right now, without even being partnered.

Getting Twitch partner will just be the icing on your delicious streamer cake.

…… save some for me!

Today we’re going to focus on the most important things you can do to grow your twitch stream, and get you out of that “no one’s watching me” rut and into the “I’m making money playing video games” party house.

Let’s begin.

Getting Twitch Partnership Relies On Exposure

Think of how many extra viewers you could get if twitch put you on the front page

Or someone gave you a huge host.

Getting in front of a large audience is how you become a twitch partner.

The more people that see your stream on twitch, the more opportunities they have to connect with you and become long-term viewers.

Simply getting partnered doesn’t help with that at all. Sure it might add some credibility to your channel, just as being a sponsored player would. But that’s all it is, just a badge of honor.

You can keep it.

What’s the point of being able to monetize your channel if no one watches your twitch stream?

If you’re one of the people that builds a community on follow for follow just to get affiliate, I’m sure you’ve realized there’s still a lot of work to do.

The same thing applies for YouTube monetization. You can monetize these without a partnership, but if your video only gets 50 views, you’re not going to even get a penny. Heck, you should be paying YouTube for free hosting! (Just kidding, don’t send money to YouTube, they have enough)

The thing that people don’t realize is that

You get twitch partnership after you’ve already built an amazing community, and at that point, it’s just the icing on the cake.

Through your journey, you hit milestones and getting partnered is just one of those milestones that indicate you’re moving in the right direction.

Twitch subscriber money is a nice way to monetize your fan base when it gets big enough. But you’re already starting to grow your subscribers as an affiliate.

Throughout the growth of your Twitch channel, you’ll realize that pulling in $500-$1000+ a month just from donations is pretty standard for channels that are doing well. For a channel that’s still growing? That’s even more impressive.

Focus on growing your channel outside of just streaming

If you really want to figure out how to become a twitch partner I can’t stress enough how important it is to put in the time and effort to grow your channel.

Simply streaming for 8 hours a day, every day won’t get you a twitch partnership. Especially when your community is still a baby.

When you’re starting out I’d aim to stream 2-4 hours a day consistently, and focus double that effort on reaching out, creating content for other channels and building relationships with other streamers.

Do you want to know how I know this? Because I was that guy.

I streamed for 30 days straight, 8-10 hours a day thinking I could just make it big by putting in the time.

I was definitely in for a surprise after those 30 days were up.

If I was lucky I would get 1 follower a day. That’s right 1 follower in 8 hours.

I’d also get my friends to come sit in my channel, you know, so I can get an extra 5-6 viewers to push my channel up for that particular game.

If you’ve streamed any amount you’ll know all about how important it is to be up there in the top 5 channels for each particular game.

Those 5 extra viewers felt like winning the lottery.

Sure I was having fun just gaming 8 hours a day, but even that got boring. Sitting there… talking to myself… for 8 hours… every day.

Each viewer that would occasionally come by felt so important. I mean statistically they were 100% of my viewer base, so I’d try really hard to make them like me. But that just felt, wrong.

I wasn’t being myself and just trying to please these passerby’s so they’d maybe stay and tell their friends about me.

It sucked.

I ended up with (in 30 days)

5 concurrent viewers if you count my friends who left the stream open for me, bless their souls.

Do you need to stream for 30 days straight like me, to no one, to figure out how to become a twitch partner? Or how to grow your stream? No. I’ve done the gaming… I mean… research, for you. The only thing I would suggest is running a week-long test run stream so you can feel comfortable before you really start growing your channel.

So what did I learn?

Streaming to no one won’t get you any exposure or help you figure out how to become a twitch partner

Who would have thought!

Even if I was funny or good at the game, I was definitely at least one of those things, it didn’t matter.

The number of people that go soul-searching through the depths of 0-1 viewer count streams is so minuscule that if you tried to build a community off that it would take you a lifetime.

Really, if you got 365 followers a year (or 1 follower a day) in 10 years you’d have a whopping 3650 followers.

To top that off your follower count doesn’t even correlate to your concurrent viewers very well.

I can’t count how many streams I’ve seen with 500-1000 followers that barely get any viewers (0-2 range).

These wandering passerby viewers simply won’t come back consistently enough so you can build an audience. Even if they do follow you.

Follower count doesn’t indicate how healthy your community is, and even if it did give some insights into it, it’s not uncommon to have to have 7,000+ followers before you consistently get 20-80 concurrent viewers.

At 5 followers a day it would take you more than 6 years to get close to that 7,000 mark. 6 whole years, surely there is something better you could be doing in that time to grow your audience and figure out how to become a twitch partner.

There is.

Reach out to other twitch streamers

Groundbreaking right?

It really does come down to how you mingle with your fellow streamers. Especially with the Twitch market saturating more and more, making it harder to be unique.

Heck, even using your good looks, cheap tricks, and even provocative sexual suggestion that was once the bulletproof way to grow a successful twitch stream isn’t as powerful as it used to be. There’s just too much of everyone doing everything.

Using sexual suggestion was a good way to grow a community back in the day, but even that has become a saturated market!

But there’s still hope.

If you’re a great player, funny, charismatic and know how to handle a community, or any combination of those things, offering something unique and being outgoing goes a long way, then you just need a stage to present yourself to the world.

And you get to that stage by building relationships.

Don’t get me wrong, you should have a professional channel setup so you can capitalize on the opportunity should it present itself.

The best part is that you don’t even need to have any video editing experience to make this.

In order to connect with other bigger streamers who can give you exposure, you should prioritize these 3 key things.

Focus on the right people (play similar games to you) and talk to as many as you can

Offer them some sort of value (In order to do this you will need some skills/tools they can utilize, don’t worry it doesn’t have to be anything crazy)

Connect with them on some level (and they might just help you out because they like your content)

Reach out to as many people as you can

Starting out, it really is a numbers game, and although you should be focusing your efforts on the right people (streamers in your space that share your audience) you need to be spreading out your plan of attack to reach as many twitch partners as you can.

It’s not the end of the world if you connect with streamers that don’t play the same game as you.

Reach out to them anyway, it’s still worth a shot when you’re starting out.

If you know how to open Photoshop and use Google, learn some basic design skills in your free time. It shouldn’t take longer than a couple hours.

Smaller streams that get between 50-300 concurrent viewers, really appreciate someone who can do video editing/graphic design work for their channel.

Try sending them a friendly email, offering some help.

Don’t be afraid to do work for free

Remember that they have no obligation to you, so helping them out with free content/work goes a long way.

Here’s an email I sent out to a person with twitch partnership whom I eventually worked with.

And here is their response.

With 1 email I got in contact with a huge streamer that I could build a relationship with.

Let’s recap, I was able to…

Get in contact with a partnered twitch stream with over 500 subs (I think they have over 1500 now).

Get on Skype with them to discuss further details.

Have an opportunity to build a relationship with them, and hopefully down the line, after I’ve proven myself, a chance that they will want to help me out too (throwing me a host, shouting me out)

Connect with other Twitch streamers in the same niche (That’s already figured out how to become a twitch partner).

A chance at simply making a friend. (Yeah, that’s a possibility too!)

Being in the company of streamers with twitch partnership helps get your name out

People watching streams take notice every time there’s a new face or contributor.

Think of all the careers that have been jump started just because someone was a close friend of a popular streamer.

‘Lirik’ (arguably the biggest name on twitch.tv) got big by first being a moderator in the chat of a streamer named ‘Towelliee’. Apparently, he was freakin’ hilarious in the chat. When he finally started his own stream people soon realized just how hilarious he was to watch too.

Then as Lirik got big, his close friend known as ‘shortyyguy’ was able to build a community the same way.

Sure, they’re both amazing in their own respect, but they also found a way to get in front of a big enough audience to jump start their career.

And guess what?

The community loved them!

I’m sure most of the pioneers of the twitch community didn’t follow road-maps that told them how to become a twitch partner.

But they used the correct avenues, even if they didn’t realize it back then!

So now we’ve connected with a few people that have bigger twitch communities than us.

What are the next steps we take regarding how to become a twitch partner?

Milk the crap out of your first big host

I went from 100 followers to over 1500 followers after my first big host. In one 8 hour session!

And I know people that have done better than that.

Streaming for long periods of time when you have lots of people watching you is the absolute best thing you can do when you’re trying to grow your channel.

Viewers seek qualification before they watch

They want to determine if you’re worth checking out or not.

One of the best ways to do that is by seeing you at the top of the video rankings with all the other popular streamers.

If you have a high viewer count your channel speaks for itself. It’s saying ‘Hey, 2000 people agree that there’s a party going on in my stream, where are you?’

This automatically qualifies you to new viewers as a popular spot to find great content and makes it easy for them to find you under the game you play.

If lots of people are watching you, new viewers will flock to you faster than someone who just announced they have free cake.

Now all you have to do is deliver an entertaining stream as the cherry on top. The more entertaining, the less people will think you’re a view-botting master.

Maintain that top viewer spot for the game you’re playing for as long as possible especially if you’re just starting out

This is the time to bring your A game. You’ve been streaming to 5-10 viewers for too damn long! It’s time to grow your stream fast and capitalize properly.

While you’re being hosted engage with as many viewers as you can. Thank people for following you and answer all their questions. Bring your personality out and show the world that you truly deserve to get a twitch partnership.

Streaming while being hosted is like speeding up time for your channel

Let’s say on a typical ‘good day’ you’d get 20 followers. Now let’s say during your ‘host day’ you get 500 followers. That means this host was the equivalent of streaming for 25 days straight!

Even if followers aren’t as meaningful as subscribers, it still indicates just how powerful getting a host is. Not only that but the more you build your viewer base the more it will keep growing exponentially through word of mouth, and maintaining a top spot for the game you play.

After a big host don’t be surprised if your new daily followers during a ‘good day’ get a nice permanent bump too.

Not to mention permanently increasing concurrent viewer count which is the absolute best indication of stream success.

I’ve found it was also helpful to have a follower counter combo on my stream overlay. You know the one where every time a new follower comes in the timer resets?

Getting followers will give people notifications when you go live and they’ll see your channel when they’re logged in. So it’s worth putting in a little extra effort when you’re starting out.

Don’t forget to focus on your viewers

The viewers are there for you just as much as the gameplay. Make sure you pay them the same respect. Acknowledge each and everyone one of your chatters as much as you can.

Make sure you have plenty of water and prepare to stream for at least 8+ hours. This is even more important to do if that host isn’t going to be coming all that often.

Don’t be sad if your concurrent viewer count only goes up a little bit the next subsequent days

Streaming is a long-term game.

Big hosts give you a nice quick boost, but what will really make your stream stick is being consistent and streaming every day for months in addition to the regular hosts.

Don’t overdo it, and learn your limits

Don’t spam message one person a million times and call that “networking”. Be persistent, but remain courteous and dignified. If they’re not responding to your emails, maybe reach out to them only once a week and see how that goes. Don’t be afraid to move on, sometimes you’re just not the right fit, and that’s okay.

If you’re persistent enough you will find at least one person willing to work with you.

Turn yourself into someone that can provide value

If you don’t have any skills that can offer any value to any other channels at the moment.

Don’t worry.

You can turn yourself into someone that people want to work with.

That’s what I did.

If you look back at my email I talked about a YouTube series I was working on.

Guess how many videos I made before that first one?

Absolutely zero.

I had absolutely no experience in video editing before I made that video.

I learned how to edit and create a video in 2 weeks.

That’s right, 2 weeks of messing around with video editing software a couple hours a day.

I knew I couldn’t just go around telling people I’m a video editor with no videos or experience (Lying will really hurt your reputation)

But I knew I didn’t have to be a professional video editor either.

So I did what I had to do.

I turned myself into someone that can offer value.

All 3 of the videos I ended up making gathered over 100,000 views.

That’s not so bad for someone doing video editing for 2 weeks.

And the videos I made for them did well too. One of them hitting near 100,000 views all on its own.

I made a connection with someone who saw value in what I had learned

Remember, just because the basics of something can be learned fast doesn’t mean it won’t be valuable

Not everyone has all the time to edit their own videos, create their own content and cut their own funny moments together.

And that’s where you can come in and help out. Like Superman going in for the rescue…

Or something like that. Lego Superman will have to do.

That’s just one example of skills you can offer people.

Here’s a few more

Graphic design work (Overlays, buttons, animations, logos)

Video editing work (Can be simply cutting together funny moments from their daily streams to creating complicated tutorial videos)

Music work (Creating beats, sound effects, or anything else they can upgrade their stream with)

Being a loyal viewer and eventually becoming a faithful moderator they trust

Offering them ideas for giveaways or ways to make their stream better

Building them a website, or blog, or offering technical services they can utilize, such as coding or creating bots for their channel

And so on…

As you can see there are a plethora of things you can do for people that will help you build a stream worthy of twitch partnership.

Soon you’ll be the one teaching others how to become a twitch partner.

Just make sure you invest your time into a skill that is useful.

If you spend all your time learning piano don’t be surprised if a big streamer like Lirik isn’t interested in learning Bach.

Conclusion

You don’t need to be partnered to start growing your stream and making it awesome.

You need to focus your effort in the right areas, especially when you’re starting out.

Put 70% of your effort into reaching out to people and networking. And 30% into actually streaming. It might sound counter-intuitive, but it’s really not. Gaining that initial base of loyal viewers will be the launching pad to your twitch stream’s success.

After that, you can refocus your efforts on your viewers because now you actually have some viewers to focus on.

They’ll tell their friends how great you are and in no time you’ll be growing naturally.

If you want a twitch partnership you need to get creative, showcase your grit to the world!

Don’t ever give up.

Follow the advice in this article, and reap the rewards by growing your channel.

I hope I showed you how to become a Twitch partner, or better yet, why it’s only the mayo on an amazing stream sandwich you’re building. If you like the content in this article and want to learn more, feel free to join our discord today.